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What Are Your Purchasing Options For Windows XP After June 30th?

Posted in Commentary with tags on June 16, 2008 by itnerd

As June 30th rapidly approaches, you have a limited amount of time to get a PC preloaded with Windows XP. After that, you will get Vista. So what are your options after that? Ina Fried of news.com did the legwork and has some answers for you. You should read this if you are in the market for a computer with XP preinstalled.

Of course there’s every chance that Microsoft will extend the lifespan of Windows XP because Vista’s sales suck impact on the marketplace has been limited. We’ll have to see if that does happen, and how Microsoft spins that.

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So I Was On Vacation Over The Weekend….

Posted in Security, Tips with tags , , on June 16, 2008 by itnerd

… And my wife and I ended up staying at a small Inn about 250km’s north of Toronto. One of the things that they advertised was high speed Internet (as I needed access if I got an emergency call from someone). When we got to Inn, there was no Ethernet jack. I flipped open my Macbook Pro and didn’t see a wireless connection (except for the one form the Inn across the street which was locked down). So my wife went to the office and came back with one of these powerline networking kits. I plugged it in and it worked right away.

This is where the fun begins.

I noticed from the IP address that I was assigned that the Macbook Pro was on the Internet with no firewall between the Macbook Pro and the Internet. Fortunatley OS X has a built in firewall that protects the computer from external attacks, so that was a non issue for me. Also, I noted that there was another PC that was visible to me. It turned out to be the office PC that I was seeing. To top it off, the guest account was enabled and I was able to fully browse the file system of the computer as well as copy and place stuff on to the computer if I were so inclined (which I was not).

Clearly, security was not the Inn’s primary concern.

The take home message is as follows:

  1. Always have a firewall on your computer (or use a router that has one) if it is connected to the Internet and turned on. This way you are more or less protected from the outside world.
  2. Never assume that people can’t see the stuff on your computer. Assume that the can and take steps to prevent it which includes disabling the “Guest” accounts on your computer.


The latter is important. Here’s how you do that under Windows XP:

  1. Right-click My Computer, and then click Manage.
  2. Click Local Users and Groups.
  3. Click Users.
  4. Right-click the Guest account, choose Properties.
  5. On the General tab, select Account is Disabled.
  6. Click Ok.

Note: This only works on a computer with Windows XP Home or Windows XP Professional computer that is NOT on a domain.

On Mac OS X 10.5, here’s how you do it:

  1. Go to System Preferences
  2. Click on the Accounts icon
  3. Highlight the “Guest Account” and ensure that “Allow Guests To Log Into This Computer” is unchecked.

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Windows XP Extended Until 2010 For Low Cost PCs… This Sounds Familiar…

Posted in Commentary with tags , on June 3, 2008 by itnerd

Microsoft announced today that they will extend the amount of time manufacturers can ship low cost desktop PCs with Windows XP until 2010. What’s a low cost desktop PC you ask? Easy:

“In a statement, Microsoft said the extension applies to “nettops,” a term coined by Intel to refer to low-cost desktops that have limited system configurations and are intended for simple tasks like surfing the Internet and sending email.”

This is something that OEM’s have been screaming for and Microsoft appears to have finally caved on this. This could be a play to defend themselves against the onslaught of low cost LINUX machines, or it could that Vista is too much of a hog resource intensive for these PCs. Either way, I wouldn’t count on XP dying on June 30th given that they have done this sort of thing previously with low cost laptops.

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How’s XP SP3 Working For You?

Posted in Commentary, Products with tags , , , on May 9, 2008 by itnerd

My experience with XP SP3 has been positive so far. By that I mean that nothing bad has happened. But I’ve read a story on Information Week that says that it is causing “havoc”:

“ The problems with XP SP3, according to posters on Microsoft’s Windows XP message board, range from spontaneous reboots to outright system crashes.”

Now I’ve upgraded 7 machines to date and I’ve not run into a single issue. Other IT professionals that I’ve spoken to have had no issues as well. So is anybody out there having issues with SP3? Post a comment and let me know.

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XP Service Pack 3… Meh

Posted in Products with tags , on May 6, 2008 by itnerd

I’ve done four updates to XP SP3 in the last few hours. My first impressions, there’s nothing earth shattering here per se. To be fair, Microsoft themselves have kept the expectations low for this service pack as it is largely a roll-up of patches that are already out there. But there are new features:

  • Improved detection of so-called black hole routers: If you’re a sysadmin, you care about this. But if you’re a home user, it’s a big “so what?”
  • Network Access Protection: This was added mainly to enhance networking functionality with the forthcoming Windows Server 2008. Another “so what” for home users.
  • Menu text in the security options control panel has been updated: This change makes it more descriptive of the various options in the security options which should make it easier for users to decide which settings to tweak and how.
  • Windows Product Activation has changed: This change makes the XP installation process more like Vista, which means you’ll no longer be forced to input your Windows product activation key during installation (although you’ll still have to activate within 30 days or XP will stop working). It also means that if you make significant hardware changes, the activation nanny will appear.

I also noticed the following things:

  • The reboot after the install was much longer. That’s not unusual as other service packs for XP have done the same thing. But what’s different is it also makes you choose to allow or not allow automatic installs of updates. (I chose not to allow it to automatically install updates)
  • It made MSN Live Messenger repair install itself the first time I ran it. I saw this repeated this on two other computers, but I don’t know what caused this.
  • So far I haven’t found anything that doesn’t work. But it’s early days yet.

Other than the above, my computers aren’t any faster after the update. Also they aren’t any more stable as they were rather stable before the update. Overall, this is a big yawn. Which isn’t a bad thing per se.

Perhaps that’s exactly what Microsoft needed.

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Vista SP1 And XP SP3 Updates On Again!

Posted in Products with tags , , , on May 6, 2008 by itnerd

I came across this posting noting that Vista SP1 and XP SP3 are now accessible through Windows Update. I’ll give you the usual warnings:

  • Wait a week until all the problems are out in the open.
  • Have a current backup.

On top of that, don’t install either of these if you have Microsoft Dynamics RMS installed.

UPDATE: It’s showing up in Windows Update on my PCs.

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If You Feel Brave….. Here’s XP Service Pack 3

Posted in Commentary, Products with tags , , , on April 29, 2008 by itnerd

This is supposed to be appearing in Windows Update today, so I would wait for it to show up there. But if you’ve got the guts, you can download it here right now.

An overview as to what this covers can be downloaded here.

If I were you, I’d wait for braver souls to download it and find all of the problems before you jump in. But if you must jump in now, have a complete backup of your system just in case things go really south.

I’ll try this later tonight on one of my VMs and let you know what I think of it.

Update: Just tried Windows Update. No sign of it.

Update #2: This was just posted to news.com. Apparently it doesn’t play nice with another Microsoft prouct called Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System. The article also gives details as to why it’s not available through Windows Update. I’d say avoid it for now unless you have a current backup.

Update #3: Apparently Vista SP1 has the same problem. According to this post, it has been halted as well.

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The Only Proof That Steve Ballmer Needs To Keep XP Around….

Posted in Commentary with tags , on April 25, 2008 by itnerd

…. Can be found on the Globe and Mail Website.

I don’t think I need to say any more than that. I hope he’s paying attention.

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Ballmer Will Keep XP Around Past June 30th If YOU Ask Him To

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on April 24, 2008 by itnerd

Everybody’s favorite chair throwing CEO Steve Ballmer said in a news conference yesterday that he’s open to the idea of Windows XP sticking around past the June 30th end of life date. The only thing is, nobody has asked him to keep it around:

“XP will hit an end-of-life. We have announced one. If customer feedback varies, we can always wake up smarter, but right now, we have a plan for end-of-life for new XP shipments,”

So, isn’t the fact that Vista sales suck have not set the world on fire the big hint that people want XP? Or maybe the hint that he’s looking for is in one of those infamous e-mails that’s part of the “Vista Capable” lawsuit (like this one, this one, and this one too).  Or perhaps he should heed his own thoughts:

“Ballmer said most consumers are choosing to buy the current version of Windows, Vista. Many acquire Vista by default, however, since most new PCs ship with the operating system. Businesses have been slower to catch on, as many have clung to Windows XP and older versions of Windows.”

The fact that consumers are going towards Vista may have something to do with the fact that Vista is being force fed down the throats of users at every Best Buy on planet Earth as that is the only thing you can buy in that store and stores like it. Basically, consumers aren’t given a choice. (Of course you can avoid that problem by following the advice that I posted here previously). If they were given a choice at Best Buy, I think they’d be buying XP boxes.

Business however are smarter. They don’t want to risk having a “not ready for prime time” OS send their business straight to hell in a handbasket. They’ll run XP for as long as they possibly can. Given that the money Microsoft makes from businesses is higher than the money they make from consumers, it may be in their best interests to keep XP alive to keep the revenue stream healthy. But, as I mentioned in this posting, Ballmer wants Vista to be the dominant desktop OS at any cost.

I’m calling it now. XP will live past June 30th. Trust me on this one.

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XP Service Pack 3 Coming Soon… Hope It’s Smaller Than Vista Service Pack 1

Posted in Commentary, Products with tags , , , on April 22, 2008 by itnerd

I was browsing the Microsoft forums last night and came across this posting announcing the fact that Windows XP Service Pack 3 has been released to manufacturing. Microsoft plans on releasing this in two phases:

“We are also in the final stages of preparing for release to the web (i.e. you!) on April 29th, via Windows Update and the Microsoft Download Center. Online documentation for Windows XP SP3, such as Microsoft Knowledge Base articles and the Microsoft TechNet Windows XP TechCenter, will be updated then. For customers who use Windows XP at home, Windows XP SP3 Automatic Update distribution for users at home will begin in early summer. “

If you want an overview of what Service Pack 3 will do for you, check out this link. This is planned to be the last Service Pack for XP, unless of course Vista’s adoption rate continue to suck be below expectations.

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